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The key purpose of this study was to design and develop a new taxonomy of educational objectives for the 21st century learners; in view of the recent theoretical perspectives, needs of learners, value-based education and the up-to-date technological advancements, in order to accustom to the distinct educational and cultural milieus in India. This had been attained through the review and analysis of the prevailing educational taxonomies, extensive grounded theory approach, construct building exercises, discussions, and interactive and brainstorming sessions. The new taxonomy evolved out of the study is proposed to be named as "Taxonomy of Ingenuity and Connectedness (TIC)", and is aspired to have the ability to impact the modernization of classroom ecosystem and the modification of educational management principles and practices; as well as in curriculum designing at various levels of learning, and teacher education curriculum. Also, the interaction process and educational architecture of the 21st century classrooms could be improved in view of the outcome of the present investigation by creating an effective and inspiring environment.

The paper is the outcome of an experiential learning episode encountered by a teacher educator (the author) with a group of student-teachers under his mentorship during a session of the practice teaching programme (2006-07) at the secondary school level. The crisis faced by a student teacher in connection with the development of a lesson template based on Brunarian theory of concept development and Joyce and Weil's formulation of Information Processing Family of Models of Teaching turned out to be an occasion of "Eureka" to construct a new version of Concept Attainment Model (CAM) of teaching. Here the practitioners involved in the exploration proposes a twist to Concept Attainment Model of teaching, namely Mutual Comparison Reception Model of CAM, which seems to be highly suitable for the learning of those secondary level science concepts which are interlinked in the conceptual ladder. The field level experiences of the student teachers with the proposed model of teaching (2007-09) are also reviewed in the paper. The paper also annexes a selected lesson template developed by the student teachers based on the proposed model. (Contains 1 table and 2 footnotes.)